


Batman

by TheIceQueen



Series: Sam's blue book [6]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Aliases, Angry Dean Winchester, Angst, Awesome Sam Winchester, Caretaker Sam, Caring Sam Winchester, Chick-Flick Moments, Concerned Sam Winchester, Denial of Feelings, Doctors & Physicians, Driving, Drugs, Eating, Fear, Feelings, Hungry Dean, Hurt Dean Winchester, Hurt/Comfort, Impala, Lieutenant Robert Hammond MD (recurring character), Massage, Medical, Medical Examination, Medical Inaccuracies, Medical Procedures, Name-Calling, Nausea, Needles, Nervous Sam Winchester, Nicknames, Pain, Painkillers, Physical Therapy, Pie, Scared Dean, Secrets, Side Effects, Sleepiness, Sleeping Dean, Surprises, Talking, Tired Sam Winchester, Trust, Trust Issues, Vomiting, Yelling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-27
Updated: 2018-02-18
Packaged: 2019-02-07 15:59:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 17,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12844587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheIceQueen/pseuds/TheIceQueen
Summary: Dean is dropped from a building at the end of a hunt, and even-though it seems he got away from that with only a twisted ankle, some injuries takes time to surface.Sam convinces Dean to seek expert advice, but it doesn't come in the form or size either of them were expecting.This can be read alone (which is the case for the most of the stores in this series), but there will be a quite a few references to 'Locked down' as some of the original characters form that fic comes back.Setting is somewhere around the middle of season three. A year and a half after 'Locked Down'.





	1. Like a cat

”How the hell are you still standing after that fall?”

Dean was leaning against the impala catching his breath. Sam and he had been hunting a poltergeist. When Sam finally found the remains, salted and burned them, it had had Dean floating in thin air outside a second-floor window. Sam saw Dean drop to the ground and land on his feet and one hand.

“I told you. Can’t fly, but always land on my feet…”

“Don’t even say it.”

“…I’m batman.”

Sam shook his head and put their stuff in the trunk. “Are you okay to drive?”

Dean pushed himself from the car and tested his legs for a second. The repressed look of pain over his face, when he put weight on his right leg, didn’t go unnoticed by Sam.

“Knee or ankle?”

As soon as he stood on the other leg, Dean looked more annoyed than in pain. “Ankle. It’s not broken. You drive, and I’ll get some ice on it, at the motel. Should be fine by tomorrow.”

“I’ll be the judge about if its broken.” Sam wasn’t worried, a sprained ankle was no big deal, even a broken one should be okay. They had been trough that before, and a lot worse. Right now, he was tired and wanted to go back to the motel and shower and sleep.

* * *

“Lay down and let me have a look at that.” Sam practically dropped Dean on the bed after supporting him from the car to the room.

“You just love this whole doctor-professor-role, don’t you?” Dean took of his shoes and socks and laid back on the bed. Sam didn’t say anything, he just got their duffle bags from the car.

Sam sat down at the end of Dean’s bed looking at both his feet, comparing them. “It’s definitely swollen. Tell me when it hurts.”

He started in the middle of Dean’s lover leg, feeling the muscles, slowly moving his hand’s lover. As he reached the ankle Dean tensed and held his breath.

“Dean, tell me if it hurts, remember.”

“It doesn’t, but half an inch more and it will.”

Sam lightened his touch but continued to move over the side of the heel. Dean pulled his leg back. “Shit! Sammy, I told you!”

“Sorry Dean, but I need to make sure you don’t need medical help.”

Dean shook his head and Sam could see that he was being judged as overprotecting, again.

“C’mon. Let me make sure it’s not broken and then you can shower first.”

Dean stretched his leg again and let Sam start over, this time from the toes and up. He made it to almost the same spot, but didn’t go too close. He started to turn and twist the foot. Slowly while watching his brothers face to detect any trace of pain. There wasn’t much, Dean had made an art out of masking pain.

“Last thing. Press down on my hand.”

Dean pushed against the hand flat under his foot. He hissed through his teeth and stopped like he was surprised that it hurt. He quickly gathered his breath.

“So, Dr. Sunshine. What’s the verdict? Will I live?”

Sam got up with a little pat to Dean’s foot, that made him jump and hiss. “It’s not broken, gonna hurt for a few days though. Go shower and I’ll get some ice.”

Dean sat up and looked at the bathroom door. It wasn’t far, these rooms were normally not that big and this was no different, but there was no furniture in the path he could support himself on. “Ehm. Can I get a little help getting there?”

Sam wrapped an arm around Dean and hauled him to his feet, and supported him to the door.

“Thanks, Doc.”

Sam smiled tolerantly. “Sure thing, Batman.”


	2. It's not a papercut

Next morning Sam was up earlier than Dean. Which wasn’t out of the ordinary. He’d gotten breakfast and since Dean was still sleeping he took his time to read a few articles about the history of a small town nearby, where there had been some unexplained deaths recently.

Dean let out a low grunt. He sounded annoyed, like someone had woken him up. Sam let it pass. If he wasn’t awake and Sam started talking now, it would not result in a good morning… or day.

A few seconds passed and then he made the sound again, this time followed by an annoyed sigh. Maybe even a pained one.

“Dean?” Sam was speaking low, like he wasn’t sure he should be speaking at all.

A deep hum came from Dean as response.

“You, okay? Do you need more ice?”

Dean took his time sitting up and moving back against the headboard. Sam studied his moves and it was obvious that his whole body was aching. Of course, it would after a fall like that. Sam just whished he’d been thinking of checking more than Dean’s ankle last night.

“I’m okay Sammy, I can see you thinking there. It’s just some sore joints.”

Sam got Dean some ice for his ankle, which didn’t seem to bother him that much as long as he had it elevated. Dean only used one hand to eat, since they were eating sandwiches there wasn’t really need for two, but Sam noticed that Dean used his left, while the right, was limp down his side.

After they were done, and Dean tried to dress himself sitting with his right leg still elevated and not moving his right arm at all, Sam had to make sure that nothing was seriously wrong.

“Did you hurt your ribs or your shoulder when you fell?”

Dean looked surprised by the question. “No. I’m just sore. It was quite the lading, you know.”

Sam sighed with controlled impatience. “Yeah. I know, Dean. But you are not using your right side. Are you even able to move your hand?”

“What, this one?” Dean looked at his right and on his lap and tapped his fingers like he was waiting impatiently. He looked happy with his achievement, but it wasn’t enough to convince his younger brother.

Sam pulled a chair to sit next to Dean. “Lift your arm, Dean.”

Dean looked like his brother just ate the last piece of pie. He looked at his arm placed limp across hi lap, and then at his brother. Sam wasn’t moving. He took a deep breath and pulled the shoulder back, as if he was trying to lift his entire arm with just the muscles in his shoulder. Eventually the arm elevated a couple of inches. Dean let placed it down carefully and then he started breathing again.

Sam could feel the frown in his forehead and he was sure Dean had already noticed it, so there was no reason to try and hide his worry.

“Where does it hurt?”

“It’s just my wrist and my elbow that are a bit stiff, but that’s to be expected.”

Sam stood up, cleaned the trash and leftovers from breakfast away. “Lay back down. I’ll have to figure out where you are hurt, so we can make sure it doesn’t get any worse.”

“Sam. I just told you. Stop being all worried, this is nothing more than we’ve tried before.”

Sam stood at the right side of Dean’s bed with his arms folded over his chest. Waiting for his brother. “I know Dean. But all the other times we made sure nothing was seriously wrong too. No nasty surprises, right?”

Dean laid down on his back. “Get it done then so we can get out of here.”

Sam pulled up a chair. He started with Dean’s shoulder, just like he’d done the ankle the night before. Nothing but a slight soreness, which Sam thought would go away in a few days. Then he let go. The elbow looked swollen and the skin over the joint, slightly red. “Dean. Bend your elbow.”

Dean held his breath. Sam could see he was struggling. He managed to move his lover arm a bit, but not quite bending the joint.

“That’s enough Dean. Relax. I’ll try to bend it and you tell me to stop when it’s too much, okay?” Dean calmed down after the exhausting challenge, and nodded to Sam.

Sam put one hand on Dean’s bicep and the other right over his wrist. Making sure not to touch the swelling and redness of that joint either. He lifted the lover arm slowly. Dean stopped breathing again. Sam felt resistance. He was pretty sure that Dean wasn’t fighting him, since he had his hands on his muscles, so it had to be within the joint.

“SAM!” Dean’s back arched and he tried to pull away from Sam’s grip. Sam stopped immediately and slowly placed the arm back down.

“I’m not gonna do that to your wrist too. I imagine it’s about the same.” Dean nodded in agreement, and was able to get his breathing back in order.

“Is there anything else? Did you hit your head or neck?”

“No Sammy. It’s just the right side… the elbow, wrist and knee… and of course the ankle, but that’s not bothering me too much.”

“I’ll get some more ice. We at least have to get the swelling down.”

* * *

Sam wrapped the ice in towels and t-shirts and placed it on Dean’s arm under much protest. The elbow was manageable, but the wrist hurt if something just brushed over it, and the weight and the cold of the ice was excruciating. When Sam was finally comfortable that the bundle would stay on, even with Dean panting and shaking, he removed the cover over his leg and looked at the knee. It was just a bigger version of the elbow. Swollen, slightly red and sore when touched. Carefully he placed the last and biggest bundle with ice on the knee, resulting in Dean’s panting being accompanied with a high pitch moan.

Sam sat down next to Dean and watched him gradually but surely gain control. He was still in pain, there was no question about that, but he was able to lay still and breath somewhat normal.

“Dean. I want to call Doc. Robert, just to ask about this.”

Dean looked at Sam like he couldn’t believe the words that just came out of him.

“No matter what, you need painkillers that we don’t have. Maybe he can help us get some.”

Sam wasn’t really worried about Dean’s condition, it was most likely just swelling from the impact. But this had to be easier on Dean if they had something other than Aspirin. To Sam’s surprise Dean didn’t offer any protests which made him worry that his brother was in more pain than he let show.

He got up quick and got the blue note-book and called Lieutenant Robert Hammond.

He explained everything and at the end he agreed to the doctor’s proposition and hung up. Now he just had to get Dean to go along with it. It wasn’t exactly what he had agreed to before.

“Dean.” Sam sat down. Dean opened his eyes and looked at Sam. “The doc. thinks you have tenosynovitis. It’s an inflammation in the tendons. Normally, pain medication and rest are the way to go, but he said it sounded like a severe case, so he would like to make sure before treating it.”

Dean shook his head, and conjured up a smile to his brother. “Sam, you can make a papercut sound severe. Besides I’m not sure a drive to Utah would be possible right now, let’s just wait and see. The swelling will go down.”

“I told him we couldn’t come to him, but do you remember he has three daughters, all wanting to follow his footsteps? One of them is at school nearby. He told me that she could help. He already texted me the address, so I can pick her up.”

“I’m not sure Sam. Do we want to get a girl mixed in all of this?”

“I’m pretty sure we got her father’s approval here, besides if she is in medical school she would know how to help. Let’s just have her check you over and get the approval for the heavy-duty painkillers.”

Dean closed his eyes again and it looked like he was riding of another wave of pain. When he came back to the surface, he nodded. “Okay, Sammy.”


	3. They grow up good in that family

Sam had left Dean with new ice-packs on and another set in a cooler near the bed. It would take about four hours to pick up Doc. Robert’s daughter and get back to Dean. Sam took another look at the address Doc. Robert had sent. It didn’t look like the name of a medical school, in fact it was just a street address, no building number or parking lot number.

The lieutenant hadn’t written the name of the daughter. Sam tried to remember. He was sure the young girl they met in the house was Gemma. That girl made some mean pancakes. Sam remember talking to her about her sisters while looking at the picture of the three redheads on the mantel. The eldest were in the military and studying to become an army-medic. He couldn’t remember her name, but the younger one was around twenty-three at the time and had just moved away from home to attend medical school. Her name was something with and ‘A’, maybe Gemma said her name was Alice?

He didn’t get any closer to the answer, so he turned his focus back on getting there quickly. Doc. Robert had called ahead and made sure his daughter was filled in and ready with all the stuff needed when he got there.

* * *

The street was more like a long forest road, it was wide and light, and even though the impala was the only car in sight, he got the feeling that someone would pull him over soon and tell him to get of private ground. No one did, and as he rolled up in front of a red brick-fence with a huge black metal gate, a redheaded girl came out with two black duffle bags.

_Wait…_

He shook the thought out of his head, but as the girl came closer, he was sure. He got out of the car to great her, not knowing what else to do, but to try and act normal.

“Gemma?”

“Hi Sam.” The girl had grown quite a bit since last year, but the lieutenant had to have made a mistake. Gemma handed Sam the bags and got in the car. Sam stood frozen for a second and then he realized that he had to move. He put the bags in the trunk and got in the driver’s seat.

“Good to see you.” Sam was too confused to even ask what was going on. The girl seemed like it was any other day and that it was a normal thing for her to get into a car with a man, ten years older than her.

“You too.” She put the lap-belt around her hips and tightened it. Sam did the same, it had been years since he last wore a belt in this car and it felt weirdly confining. He always had a belt on in other cars, and he wasn’t bothered by them. The impala was different, though. More free. Another way of driving. Something he would never tell Dean, he was conceited enough about that car. But in this case, he was driving with a kid, better set a good example, right?

“My father said it would take about two hours to get there. I missed lunch because of the gathering and packing. Maybe we could stop and pick something up? Do you know if there is something on the way there?”

“Ehm. Yeah, sure. I saw diner a few miles from here, I’m sure they can get us something to go.” Sam had both hands on the wheel and was staring at the girl next to him. The engine wasn’t turned off, but he was unsure what to do.

“Maybe we should get going.” She looked at him with a smile, showing her big blue eyes. Sam was sure Dean would make them go dark fast.

“Yeah. Let’s go.” He turned the car around and drove back through the forest. He remembered Dean’s words. _“Do we want to get a girl mixed in all of this?”_ At the time Sam was thinking it was a twenty-five-year-old _girl_ , not a kid.

“So, Gemma. What school is this?” He had to start somewhere. He was secretly hoping that she would tell him to take a turn, so they could pick up her older sister.

“Saint Blaise Academy. It’s a high school which allow us to attend courses at a higher level, in addition to our basic curriculum.”

Sam looked at the girl. Either she had learned that line by heart or this girl had something other teens didn’t. “High school? Can I ask how old you are?”

“I believe you just did.” She didn’t take her eyes of the road ahead, but she was smiling. “The answer is fifteen.”

The car was quiet for the next couple of miles. Sam’s head was spinning. How was this girl going to help, and how the hell was he going to convince Dean to let her? He had to figure out why her father thought this was a good idea but, he was not going to call him while she was in the car, and he didn’t know how to ask. The way he remembered the veteran was kind, but firm and authoritative. The last thing he wanted to do was to offend him.

“Did my farther tell you which sister you were picking up?”

Sam was surprised by the sudden break of silence, but he welcomed the topic of conversation. “Ehm. No, he didn’t.”

“I thought so. You got really quiet after learning my age.”

“I’m sorry. I… I’m sure your father thinks you are really good.” Sam wanted to stay on her good side, at least because it would look bad if a grown man rolled up to a diner fighting with a young girl. They were clearly not related.

“It’s perfectly fine. My dad tends to forget that, sometimes. If it will make you feel more at ease, I can tell you that your brother’s case is not that difficult. Painful, of cause, and he probably needs further treatment than the pain-relief he can get from over-the-counter-medication, but when he does so, he should make a fast and full recovery.”

Sam didn’t know what to answer. It _did_ make him feel better, but how would she know all that? He got the feeling that this girl wasn’t easily offended, so he decided he wanted to hear more.

“That’s good to hear…” He took a breath and calmed his voice even more before speaking again. “Tell me if I’m over the line, but can I ask you some questions?”

“I will, but I doubt it will come to that. You want to know about me, before I help your brother. I would expect nothing else.”

This girl sure was special. Sam couldn’t help but smile at the carefully chosen words coming out of this small person. Maybe this is how Dean felt like grooving up, listening to him, but Sam had a sense that this girl contained more than just a fondness for school.

“When did you start school here?”

“About six months after you and Dean came to our house. I’ve been there a year now.”

“You said you were doing extra courses?”

“I am. We start school at seven in the morning. The teachers try to concentrate the assignments around medicine, whenever possible. After noon, we take our online courses. Quite often, we have professors to come and guest-lecture, because we are 150 students gathered in one place. I have completed all of the preliminary courses and I’m starting my pre-med courses next month.”

Sam was astonished. _Fifteen years old!_

“Are there a lot of students starting this young?”

“This year, we are three. Last year two. There are more from the older classes, of course.”

“Of course.”

They drove into the parking lot in front of the diner. “Do you need money?”

“No, thank you. I’m good.” Gemma got out of the car, closed the door, turned around and put her head through the open window. “Before you call my father I wanted to let you know that this isn’t a mistake. Marie is stationed in Greenland, studying frostbites and Alice is finishing up her second year of medical school at George Washington University. Since we are in Albuquerque… My father is busy, and he sometime forget to tell people the whole story, but he _always_ knows where his daughters are. It is okay if you call him, to make sure. I won’t be offended.”

She left the car with a smile and went inside. What is it with this family? No wonder Doc. Robert is proud of his daughters. He picked up the phone, but he had all the answers he needed, and if he wanted more, he could just ask Gemma. She seemed okay with answering his questions. He decided to take the free time to call Dean.

_“Sam?”_

“Hey, Dean. How are you doing?”

_“Great. You’ve left the remote out of reach.”_

“Get some sleep. We’ll be there in under two hours.”

_“I’ve been sleeping. That’s not really a possibility right now.”_

Sam’s breath sped up. Dean was still in pain when he’d left, but not enough to make him stay awake. Was it getting worse? He looked through the windows in the diner. Gemma was paying. He hoped she’d ordered something that wouldn’t take long to prepare.

“Is the pain worse? There is more ice in the cooler.”

_“The pain I can handle. But I have to take a piss. Did you think of that before you left me stranded on a motel bed?”_

Sam sighed. Dean was such a hard ass.

“I’m not sure it’s a good idea for you to walk around, but I can ask her if she thinks it will do more damage, when she comes back.”

_“Yeah, you do that. Wait, where is she?”_

“She’s getting food. She hadn’t eaten because she was packing.”

_“Good. Now, tell me; is she the grown-up version of that little girl we met last year, because I would imagine they grow up good in that family.”_

“Dean.”

_“Just saying. You have to drive her back after. A lot can happen.”_

“She’s here. Hold on.”

Saved by the bell. Sam was relived he didn’t have to continue that topic, but eventually Dean would see that the _doctor_ he’d found for him, actually was that little girl they met last year. He held his hand over the phone, so Dean wouldn’t hear them talking.

“Dean was wondering if it would do more damage if he put wait on his leg? He really wants to move a bit.” He looked at the girl strapping herself in again and placing the paper bag on her lap.

“Do you want me to talk to him?”

“Ehm. No…”

Gemma seemed to understand. She nodded and smiled. “Okay, then tell him this; It would be good for him. Movement of the joints might help, if he does not exaggerate. He have to be careful not to fall, an impact could make it worse.

Sam let Dean know that it would be fine to go to the bathroom, and he told him more than once, to be careful, to which Dean had answered that he always was.

The rest of the drive they spent talking. Sam was finding this girl highly interesting. She had bought food for them both, and for Dean she had bought the only thing they had, that would still be good when they got to the motel; a triple berry pie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It might take more than a day to get the next chapter out.  
> I'm working on a few versions of the scene. 
> 
> How do you think Dean will react? It won't be easy to get him to cooperate, that's for sure. Why do I put myself in these situations, having to figure this out...?


	4. A means to an end

Sam had informed Gemma that Dean didn’t knew who was coming and that he probably wouldn’t take kindly to the fact that she was so young. Still, they both agreed that she might as well go with him inside, and face the music head on. Sam opened the door to the room to find Dean in the same position he’d left him, but from the state of the room he’d been moving around. One of the dining chairs was placed in the middle of the room almost exactly mid-between the end of Dean’s bed and the bathroom door and the little table next to the bathroom was knocked over. The cooler next to the bed was open and contained the plastic bags with now water, and Dean had placed the frozen bags on his arm and knee. Dean himself were trying to sit, but failing by any means.

“How are you holding up?”

Sam came to his side and placed Gemma’s two bags of the floor. She was right behind him.

“Been better… Been worse.” Dean gave up fighting to sit and let Sam put an extra pillow under his head, so he could see the room better.

Sam joined Gemma, who was standing at the foot-end of the bed. He put a hand on her shoulder. “You remember Gemma, right?”

Dean looked at the girl and then at Sam. It was difficult for Sam to hold a confident smile. He knew, this could go to hell in a handbasket in a second.

“This is a joke, right? Her sister is in the car?”

“No, Dean. Gemma is going to help, I believe she’s quite capable.”

Dean tried to sit again, and again failing. He looked in disbelieve, up and down at the girl, and then at his brother.

“I wasn’t even sure I needed a doctor, and you take off and bring home freakin Annie?!”

Sam instinctively tightened his hand on Gemma’s shoulder. “Dean…”

“No, Sam. What is she, like twelve?”

“I’m fifteen.” Gemma sounded more calm and sure of herself than Sam was expecting.

“The adults are talking!” Dean was clearly not having any of this.

“Dean.” Sam felt bad for the girl, she didn’t try to speak again. “You said, ‘you _wasn’t_ sure’. Are you sure now? That you need a doctor?”

Dean looked down his arm and Sam could see he was trying to move his leg too, but not much happened except the twitch of pain showing on his face.

“Yeah. I think so. I can’t move, and it hurts like hell, but she’s not a doctor. She’s barely dropped the pigtails.”

Sam looked down at the redhead, as he felt her looking up at him. She didn’t say anything. Sam could see that she didn’t know what to do, and he didn’t blame her. However, Sam knew there was a chance she could help, and now she was here and no one else, so he had to try to reason with his brother. He pointed her in the direction of the small kitchen and told her to put the pie in the fridge and then wait at the table. He sent her off with a small brush of his hand on her back, trying to signal that he would fix the situation. He wasn’t sure he was able to, but when Dean admitted that he has in need of a doctor, he knew he had to.

He pulled that chair around to sit at his brother’s side. Blocking Dean’s view of Gemma. “Dean. Listen to me for a second, please.”

“No way, Sam. She’s a kid for God’s sake.”

“We don’t really have a choice here. The FBI will track you down before you can even hit on a nurse, if we go to a hospital.”

Dean tried to conceal a smile. “I was expecting a more grown-up version. Did you know?”

“No. I thought it was supposed to be one of her older sisters too, but if I’d gotten all the information I have now, I would have gone anyway. Besides, I’ve talked to her, for two hours; she’s one of a kind, and I think she can help.”

Dean stretched his neck to get a look at the girl. Sam moved a bit to let him and he turned himself. She was sitting on the dining chair next to the small table in the corner that made the kitchen part of the room. She was sitting straight up with her hand’s in her lap. Calm, but clearly listening to every word said.

Sam turned to Dean again. “Just let her take a look. She’ll call Doc. Robert and they will agree on what to do. This is the only way you can get the prescription drugs.”

Dean looked like he knew this was the only way, but he didn’t seem okay with accepting it. Surprisingly, he did. That was way too easy. Maybe Dean was in more pain than he let him know. Sam turned to Gemma.

“Okay, you’re up.” He smiled at her and hoped that the confident girl he’d had the pleasure of getting to know, was going to come back. She stood up and went to the other side on Dean with determined steps. As she approached Dean’s other side she looked at Sam and got a nod and another smile. Still standing at a distance she looked at the older brother.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but it is your knee, elbow and wrist that is in question?” Sam could hear her voice being slightly more insecure than in the car, but Dean seemed surprised by her calm and collected demeanor. It took a second for him to realize that she wanted an answer.

“Ehm. Yeah. I can’t move.”

“Sam told me that he only looked at your elbow.” Both Winchesters nodded. “He also told me that your ankle and shoulder will be healing without interference from me. I reckon that the two of you have seen enough sprained and sore joints, that we can trust his evaluation.”

Dean was so confused by this girl that it made Sam smile. He was almost proud of her for handling herself this way in front of Dean.

“I will have to examine all three joints, to conclude what will be the best way of threating your tenosynovitis.” She took a step closer.

“Stop!” Dean held up his good hand to signal that he didn’t want her to touch him, just yet. Gemma froze. Sam could see the last of her nerve slightly disappearing.

“Have you done this alone before?”

“Dean. I’ve already asked…”

“And now I’m going to ask. Get over it.” Dean sent Sam a look that left no room for further discussion. Then he looked back at Gemma. “So, Annie...?”

Sam’s stomach curled up, there was no need for his brother to be rude to the girl. He just hoped that she could stand her ground.

Gemma took a deep breath and with the comforting look, Sam tried to send her, she spoke, collected, but clearly nervous.

“I have been out on cases before. This is the first time with hunters, but my father liked Sam, so he estimated that it would be safe.” Sam couldn’t help but smile at that, and he could see that Dean was trying hard not to look at him. “I have been helping my farther since I was eight years old. I have seen different stages of tenosynovitis, however this seems to be a particular severe case. The treatment is not difficult, and I always call my father for confirmation before I proceed.”

Dean seemed in chock when he looked at Sam, who only smiled at Gemma and then nodded at his brother. “I told you she was special.”

Dean nodded at the girl and she straightened her back and started rubbing her hands together to make them warmer.

* * *

Dean was confused and in disbelief. How the hell did he just agree to this? Now a teenage girl was going to examine his arm and leg and tell _him_ what _he_ had to do to get over this. She bend down to reach his elbow, and Dean followed her every move. Soon he felt small fingertips pressing his muscle a few inches over the joint. He remembered Sam doing the same but with big callused hands, not small pointy fingers. They moved down to the joint, the pain started up again and he couldn’t help but tense his entire body. He looked at his elbow as her thumb were settling on a soft spot not quite on the inside of his elbow. She pressed down just a little and Dean’s arm felt like it was starting to burn. He moaned through his teeth and turned his head the other way.

“I know it is painful, but I have to do this.” She put her other hand just above his wrist, like Sam ad done earlier too. He looked at his younger brother and gathered himself. Then she bend his arm. Or she tried to. It hurt, worse than before and he tensed all muscles in his arm. The girl was no match for his strength. She stopped trying to move the arm, but didn’t let go.

“Your elbow could be locked, but I figure that you are in so much pain that you are fighting movement. It of course could be locked at some point throughout the movement, but we do not need to know that.”

Dean was relieved. She didn’t have to move it anymore. How the hell could an irritated tendon hurt so much and keep him from moving? She moved her thumb in small circles in the soft spot, it wasn’t bad to begin with, but she added more pressure as she warmed up the spot. Dean tried his best to relax and not to move his upper body to get away from the discomfort. Then she pressed her finger moving over the thin skin on the inside of his elbow, and even harder moving it back. Dean jerked and moaned loudly. Sam grabbed his good hand and he held tight.

The girl let go and picked a notebook from her bag and wrote down a few sentences. The brothers looked at her and waited. She looked thoughtful, like she was weighing her options, then she put it down and came to Dean again.

“Is the wrist more painful?”

“Yeah, I guess.” She’d said she had to examine all three joints and the wrist was undeniably the worst. He didn’t want her anywhere near it, but even more, he didn’t want to tell her that.

“Can I see the other I would like to compare?”

Dean lifted his hand out of Sam’s and showed it to her. She looked closely on the good wrist and then down on the other still flat on the mattress next to Dean.

“Thank you.” She put her hands on Dean’s; one on each side and then she lifted it slightly. Dean tensed up immediately. His elbow hurt from the movement, even if it was not even bending, and his wrist felt like it was burning from the inside out. As soon as she had one hand covered under his and one free, the movement stopped. Her free hand returned, and fingers started pressing at the joint. Burning nails were poking him and Dean was wondering when one of them would penetrate hurt him deeper. The hand under his held on gently, but made sure there was no more moving the wrist. She paused.

“Are you able to move your wrist at all, or is there something blocking the movement?”

Dean thought it over. The wrist was different from the other two joints, even if he wanted to move it with the pain, he couldn’t.

“I think it’s stuck.”

“What do you mean, stuck?” Sam had been quiet during the examination so far, but now he looked like he didn’t understand what was going on.

“Like there is something blocking it. Even if I got the painkillers, I’m not sure I could move it.”

Sam looked at the girl. Seeking for further explanation or maybe some comfort that this would be an easy fix. Dean wanted the same thing.

“It is not uncommon for the joint to lock. It is the inflammation blocking the movement. Once the inflammation goes down the wrist should be able to heal entirely.”

“What do you mean about _should be_?” Dean was suddenly thinking about permanent damage. He could not go on with a stiff wrist and an elbow not functioning, and what about his knee?

“This fall was yesterday, true?”

Sam and Dean both nodded.

“Then there should be no long-lasting damage, as long as we start treatment today. I haven’t seen this condition develop, to this extent, this fast before, but I know it is possible and my father has seen it. Permanent damage is a result of delayed treatment.”

She pulled her hand out from under his much bigger palm, and Dean hissed at the sudden flare of pain. After she wrote some more in her notebook she took a step back and looked at the blanket covering the ice-pack and under it Dean’s bare leg. “I need to examine your knee too.”

He hadn’t thought of her taking of the blanket before now. Why the hell, did she have to be a little girl? She’d proven herself so far, but her and Sam were already pushing their luck. The only thing making him nod at Sam to move the blanket back was that he didn’t want to walk with a limp for the rest of his life. Also; it would make it too easy for Henriksen to get to him and he did not want to spend his last months in prison. He might as well go to hell now.

Sam revealed only the knee and nothing more and everything started over, the fingers the moving around, but somehow the knee wasn’t as bad as the arm. He did swear when she had Sam help him bend it while she hand her hands on top of it. When she seemed content, she wrote a bit more and Sam covered him back up and sat down again.

Dean was at a loss for words. Normally it was Sam asking all the questions and he would very much like for him so start right about now. He sent his brother a look saying, _go on_.

“So, Gemma. What now?”

The girl picked a phone from her pocket, pulled over the chair, Dean must have been using to get to the bathroom, sat down and put the notebook in her lap. “Now, I call my father and talk the case over with him. I am confident that it can be easily treated, and I have everything with me, but since I am not educated yet, I must have a doctor approving my steps of treatment.”


	5. Spiraling

The conversation with Doc. Robert hadn’t taken long. Sam had tried to listen to the conversation and it seemed like Dean had too, but the pain had clearly made the medical mumbo-jumbo even harder to follow. After a few lines Dean had asked Sam for some new ice-packs. Sam and he had been working on getting them placed, when Gemma put the phone down.

“My father agrees with my conclusion.”

Sam sat back down and waited for Dean to settle under the new ice-packs, so Gemma could continue.

“The knee and elbow will supposedly heal with massage- and physical therapy. You will evidently need pain medicine before we can do that. I have morphine tablets with me, I’m not allowed to carry this, so I only have small dosages’. It will however, be enough to get through two, perhaps three days.”

“Three days? How long will I need this?” Dean was getting annoyed. Sam could see that he was not okay with being in bed for so long. Knowing Dean, one day was too long.

“I will go through the regime with Sam, and he can continue the treatment when I leave tomorrow. You will have to continue the treatment for at least one week, after that you will presumably be able to manage with only one time a day up until you do not feel any discomfort.”

Sam felt the energy leave his body by the second. Dean would put up a fight every time. This sounded like it would take weeks. He looked at his brother, who laid as still as before, looking up at the girl.

“What about my wrist?” Dean sounded calm, and Sam was wondering if it actually was a good idea to have such a young person in the room in these situations.

“The wrist is locked completely, and the morphine will not be strong enough to mask the pain, so that I can touch it. You will need a nerve block. I have the paraphernalia for administrating the injection. Then…”

“Hold it!” The calm Dean was gone, and Sam erased the thought of a young person being a good idea. “You are _not_ poking me with a needle. I’ve played along this far, but I’m ending it here!”

Gemma moved back on the chair, with the sudden outburst. “But I…”

“No! You are a kid. Kids don’t get to play doctor on me. Get out!” Dean pointed at the door with his good arm and kept the girl in a locked look.

Sam wanted to defend her, but he knew Dean would only get angrier if he tried. He looked at Gemma and saw the girl looking at him for help. She was smaller than before, Dean had made her shrink, and freeze in position on the chair.

“Can you excuse us, Gemma? I think I should talk with my brother alone.” He tried to sound calm and reassuring, but the truth was that he didn’t know if he should go with her outside and comfort her or stay and reason with Dean. He decided on the last, more impossible choice. Sam followed Gemma to the door, and gave her the car keys with a nod, he hoped signaled that everything was okay.

* * *

“No, Sam. I’ve played along long enough.” Dean was definitely putting on an angry face, but Sam knew that fear was what started this, and it was evident in his face even now.

“Dean. I know needles is a big thing for you, but…”

“Stop Sam. I’ve gotten injections before. I hate it, but I manage. You know that.” Sam did know that. Dean hated everything going under his skin, but he let it happen every time, because there is no other way. Sometimes he throws up from getting stitches, or even from getting the sutures removed, but he never makes a big deal out if it. Well there was that time with the eye, but Sam had to admit that he wouldn’t have taken to that easily himself.

“I know. Why is this different? You see how capable she is.”

“She is still just a girl. What if she screws up? This is in my wrist, not just the skin. I know how this goes; she hits the bone or moves the needle and it breaks. Then I’m really in deep shit.”

“I trust that she can do this. I get the feeling that she wouldn’t do anything she was unsure of how to do.”

“I don’t trust her! She’s a freaking school-girl just taking orders from her father.”

“And, what were you doing when you were fifteen?”

“It’s not the same Sam and you know it.”

“It’s exactly the same thing. She grew up helping her father, getting really good at it. The only thing different is, she is getting an education to back that up.”

Dean sighed and looked away. Sam was not going to take the silent treatment, he didn’t have time for that, with Gemma sitting in the Impala waiting. “Is this really about not trusting her?”

Dean looked back at Sam. Angrier that before. “What the hell would it else be about?!”

Sam took a deep breath. This could end the conversation completely. For about the seventeenth time that day, he thanked his luck that Dean couldn’t move.

“Are you scared that you will freak out in front of her?”

Dean looked surprised, he didn’t speak at first and Sam took the lack of immediate outburst as a good sign.

“I’m not going to freak out.” Dean sounded annoyed by the suggestion, but didn’t shout anymore.

“I know you probably won’t, but you have to have had the thought.”

“Sam…”

“No, Dean. Listen.” Sam didn’t let Dean interrupt and he didn’t try again. “I know this would be no big deal if it was a grown man doing it. You would hate it, but you wouldn’t resist, so what is going on now?”

Dean looked away again. “Just let it go Sam. The morphine pills might take the pain away enough.”

“She said they wouldn’t, and Doc. Robert agreed.” Sam took a breath gathering himself for the next question. “Do you remember the deal we made after the eye-doctor?”

Dean looked at him. Sam noticed how tired his brother looked just now, he was still in a lot of pain or else he would surely be sleeping.

“Yeah. You promised that you wouldn’t go overboard worrying about my… thing, with needles and let me do my thing. How do you think you are doing with that?”

Sam shook his head. “I would let you do your thing, unless you asked for my help, _or_ you were spiraling out of control. I kinda think you are starting to spiral here.”

Dean looked Sam in the eyes. Sam didn’t break eye-contact, he held it in silence till Dean looked down.

“You remember what happened that day too? When you tried to _help_?” Sam knew what Dean was talking about. He moved his tongue back in his mouth and found the empty place where the cracked tooth had been.

“I won’t ever forget, Bobby yanking out my tooth because you cracked it in two.” Sam smiled. It had hurt, but Dean had been out of it, and in his own way he’d shown that he was sorry about it.

“Why are we talking about my tooth?”

Dean took a deep breath. Sam could see that he was breaking through to his brother, slowly.

“I don’t want to do that to Annie out there.” Dean nodded at the door. Sam relaxed his entire body. He could deal with that, he could make sure that that didn’t happen.

“You won’t. I’ll be here. Besides, this is noting compared to the eye-thing, right?”

“Right.” Dean seemed to have calmed down quite a bit, but there was still something on his mind. Sam noticed the distance in his answer. Like he wasn’t really present.

“Dean? Is there anything else?”

Dean looked at his brother. Sam could see that he was figuring out if he should get all angry and dismissive again or if he should just tell him and get it over with. Thankfully he went with the latter.

“I don’t want her to know.” 

Sam smiled. Dean’s pride and tough guy appearance was a big factor and always had been. Sam thought it over. This could very well be a good thing. Maybe Dean could use his anger for something for once.

“I think I’ve got an idea that might work.” Sam was grinning by now and Dean looked more confused than ever.

* * *

Sam knocked on the car window, before getting in. Gemma was in the back seat with her feet up and hugging her knees. Sam noticed the dried trace of a tear on her face, but now she was just still, looking at him.

“I’m sorry, I should have warned you about Dean.” Sam tried.

“You _did_ warn me, and I have experienced resistance before, because of my age. It was only…” She trailed off.

“You did everything right. He was out of line.” Sam took her hand. “I’ve talked to him and he agrees to let you help, if you want to.”

She straightened her back. “I will help. I have to. That is why I’m here.”

“You _don’t_ have to. This is your choice entirely.”

She started to move towards Sam to get out of the car, and he got out to let her pass. “I want to help.”

“Okay. Then there a few things you should know. Dean does not like this at all. He thinks you are too young to do this, but he agreed that there was no other way.”

Gemma nodded. She still looked small. Sam wondered if he should just tell her about Dean’s issue with needles, but if Dean were to find out, he would lose that trust and if he needed help again, and he probably would, eventually, it would be even more difficult.

“ _I_ trust you. _I_ know you can do this, and so do you.” He looked the girl in the eyes and watched her grow an inch or two. “If Dean suddenly decides that this is not a good idea anyway, I’ll be there, and I’ll hold him if I have to. Are you sure you want to do this?”

Gemma took a deep breath and nodded. “Let’s help your brother. It’s only one time, you will do the next after I'm gone.” Sam only now realized that there had to be more than one nerve-block, but he couldn’t think of more than one thing at a time. He pulled Gemma into a hug and then they nodded at each other and walked into the motel room.


	6. A tight space

Dean was hissing through his teeth when the door opened and the two came in. If he wasn’t confined to the bed he would probably already have hit or thrown something. Sam knew that Dean’s fear and anger were separated with a very fine line, and usually he was the one to pull Dean back from pure rage to talk about things in a calmer, and if Dean should say it, more girly way. This time however, Sam had told him to cross the line. Get angry. Shout and curse if he wanted. At first Dean had been confused, but when Sam had laid down a few ground-rules, he’d understood that this could possibly prevent him from panicking in front of the girl and do something, to get out of the situation, that he might regret later.

“Ready?” Sam had sat down on the bed next to Dean.

“No!” The girl didn’t look as startled as he’d excepted, and he felt better about the plan. He didn’t want to scare her. He just needed an excuse, and anger had to be it.

“We agreed. You have to let her do this.” Sam was firm in his voice and clearly ready for whatever Dean would throw back at him.

Dean looked at the girl. She was already in gloves holding the little flask with the fluid upside down. Dean looked away. The one thing he couldn’t explain with anger, was if he threw up. A thing that very well could happen if he thought about the thing going under his skin in a minute.

“ _You_ agreed! I want her out.” Dean looked in the direction of the girl. Not paying too close attention to what was in her hands. “You! Schoolgirl. Get out!”

Dean felt a hand holding his chin and Sam moved his face to look at him. “ _WE_ agreed! Now, do you need me to hold you down while she does this? It _is_ happening!” Sam was almost yelling at him.

The play was going fine so far. Dean knew that he might need a barrier between him and something, or someone, within hitting range. The fact that the one doing this were so young, made it harder. He had never been afraid of hurting someone in these situations. People around him could usually take care of themselves. All the factors mixed with embarrassment was making it too much.

“You might have to do that.” Dean hissed the words through his teeth. “I wouldn’t want to knock her out if I snap.”

“Hey! You do NOT get to be angry at her. Yell at me. Try to hit _me_. Let her do her job. This is not her fight!” Sam was yelling now. He had one hand on Dean’s good shoulder and the other in the hand of the incapacitated arm. Holding tight so Dean couldn’t move.

“Yes, sir.” Dean locked his jaw tight. The words made Sam smile, but Dean was too occupied with staying angry to return the favor.

Sam nodded at the girl and she came over. She didn’t look at anything but the wrist while she sat down on the chair next to the bed. She put her free hand on the lover arm and Sam followed her move to turn the wrist a bit outward. It hurt, but Dean had felt worse, so he just kept huffing and puffing in anger over the situation. It was not difficult to be angry at the whole scene.

“You tell me what is going on and I’ll make sure he doesn’t move.” The girl nodded at Sam and seemed content with the arrangement. Dean figured he didn’t wanted to talk to him right now anyway.

“He has to be completely still for this. The needle will brake if he moves his wrist. I’m starting now.” She didn’t sound insecure at all, which made Dean feel a bit better, but she was definitely not as confident as when she came in there the first time.

“Did you get that?” Sam tightened both grips on his brother.

“Yeah, got it.” He sounded more annoyed than angry this time, but the was already lying totally still. No way he was going to have a broken needle inside him. Then he felt the pinch, where the area between the thumb and index finger became his arm. The pinch became a burning sensation as it moved inside the inflamed wrist.

_Breath_

_Stay calm_

_Don’t say anything_

His thoughts helped calm him down a bit, and stay still for the first part.

“I’m injecting the blockade now. It will sting, and it will feel as if there is not enough room for it. He still has to be still.”

Sam nodded at her, and then looked at his brother. Sam looked worried. “Just get it done.” Dean was doing okay at the moment and Sam seemed to pick up on that.

The pain in his wrist got worse, it was burning, and it felt like the joint might burst any second. Dean pressed his head back into the pillow and closed his eyes. Wondering if Sam was still holding on to his hand, or if his hand might have fallen off.

“Dean. You okay?”

“I’m perfectly fine.” Dean answered without opening his clenched jaw. “Son of a bitch.”

Dean saw Sam smile, before he closed his eyes again. Sam had seen him like this, countless times, biting down pain, getting stitches, or setting a shoulder. The only thing different was his brother holding him pinned to the bed. Dean was wondering if it had even been necessary to have Sam physically hold him down. The pressure in the joint stopped and the pain was already beginning to subside.

“I’m retracting the needle slightly and changing the angle. I need to inject into another location too.”

Dean’s eyes went wide. She couldn’t just move it around in there. His stomach turned, and he swallowed to control the urge to vomit.

“Dean?” Sam must have seen the signs, but had to be sure.

“I’m sick of this! Sam, she can’t do that!” One of the ground-rules was that if Dean used the word ‘sick’, he was getting close to throwing up.

“She is going to do exactly that!” Sam was still paying a part. He was acting angry too, even if it was more difficult for him. Dean could see the worry in his face. “You lay still. Calm your breathing so you don’t move too much.”

Dean had forgot about his breathing. He was panting, and Sam was clearly struggling to hold his arm still.

A few deep breaths later he felt the needle move out. He could swear it was scraping against bone in there. He swallowed a few more times and Sam clearly noticed. His younger brother squeezed his shoulder harder and then released it almost completely. Dean knew what he was hinting at; if Dean relaxed Sam would too, but if Dean were to fight, Sam would hold on tighter and come closer. Dean had thought Sam was overreacting when he suggested that, but right about now, he was considering the fight.

The needle turned and pushed in a little. Dean’s good hand grabbed on to Sam’s arm. Before he knew it, Sam had pinned his hand to the mattress and was using his hole weight holding it like that. Sam’s chest was almost toughing Dean’s shoulder.

“Calm down.” Sam was too close to Dean to shout, but he talked firmly and there was no question that he was going to keep this situation under control. He looked in Dean’s eyes while he talked to the girl. “You good, Gemma?”

“I’m moving it again. There is too much tissue to get through here.” She sounded perfectly fine and confident, but this time it didn’t help. Dean felt the needle pull out a little again and then turning and pushing down. It felt like she was looking for a piece of lost sausage in a cheese-fondue. Dean could hear his own heart beating. His vision got blurry and gray. Soon there would only be the feeling of sick left. Sam was slipping away.

The last sane thought he had was to get Sam closer. When he'd freaked out at the eye-specialist, Sam had been kinda ‘grounding’ him like an anchor, he needed that now. Without moving his right arm, he used all his strength to move the hand from under Sam. He fought to get it out from under him and Sam let him, still holding on to it. With their arms out of the way, Sam’s torso was now completely on top of Dean’s. He pressed down and lined his mouth with Dean’s ear.

“Breathe. I’ve got you.”

“Let me go! I’m sick of this!” Dean couldn’t whisper without the girl hearing it, he was facing the sealing and she could see his face.

“I know, Dean. Can you hold it for a few more seconds?”

Dean could do that, especially since the movement stopped. He knew that meant, that the pain would be back, but he could handle that better.

“Injecting the last part and then I’m finished.” The girls voice barely made it through and Dean didn’t really get time to prepare for the pain. He arched his back, as much as it was possible with his huge brother on top of him and growled deeply. Sam didn’t say anything. He knew that this was the easy part and he just stayed put until Dean relaxed.

“Get of me!”

Sam lifted his head and looked at the girl. She was done and had gotten herself out of the way. He pushed himself up. Letting go of the limp hand, but still had a firm grip on the other. He looked Dean in the eyes.

“You have to calm down first. Relax your breathing.” His younger brother was right back in the tough-guy-role again.

“Get of me! I’m not going to hit you.”

“Take a deep breath first.” Sam was talking calmer now. Dean took a deep breath. Trying to relax his arm pinned down by Sam. As soon as he managed to stay relaxed, Sam let go.

“We good?” Sam stood next to the bed, looking a bit worried.

“We’re good.” Dean calmed down a bit more and then looked at the red-head in the kitchen-corner.

_Shit. What if he’d really frightened her?_

“Annie?” He was still a bit out of breath. She turned and came over with a plate. “I know you hate that I’m young, and that you don’t trust me, but can you please call me Gemma?”

Sam was smiling. He looked like a dad whose kid just won the spelling bee. Dean conjured up a smile. “I see I didn’t scare you off.”

She put the plate down and handed him a fork. “I bought you this. Since you haven’t eaten all day, I thought you could go for some pie while I work on your wrist. The pain will be greatly diminished now.”

Dean sat up a bit still struggling with his elbow and sore shoulder. Sam helped and got him a few more pillows.

The pie looked good. That girl was really something. “I’m sorry about the yelling before. My brother and I don’t always agree.”

“It’s perfectly fine. Sam had warned me. I chose to come in here and help. As I see it, Sam did the difficult part.”

Dean looked at Sam. He knew that she might be right, but that didn’t change the fact that he had put her in danger, and been mean to a kid, because he wanted to keep his secret.

“Sam and I fight all the time, and you didn’t sign up for that. You did good. You're in charge now, Gemma.” Gemma smiled and nodded at the pie, to indicate that he should start eating.

“You should get some food in your system before you take the morphine tablets. Would you prefer something else?”

“I love pie. Thank you.”

Dean ate the piece of pie in silence while Gemma pressed and prodded his numb wrist and hand. He only stopped to hiss in pain when she moved his arm too much, so the elbow hurt. Even though, Dean was starving it took some time getting through the whole piece with his left hand. When he was done, she gave him two pills and offered him a piece more and a piece for Sam too.

The massage on his wrist got more powerful and he started to feel sore, especially when she moved his hand to bend the wrist. He didn’t complain, it really wasn’t too bad, considering before, or other injuries. Not even through half of the second piece of pie, he felt full and a bit nauseous. He handed the plate to a worried Sam and leaned back.

“Are you feeling okay?”

Dean closed his eyes and nodded. He felt tired and kinda dizzy.

“It is the morphine. The pills are strong.” Gemma directed her attention to Dean. “You will feel dizzy and maybe a bit nauseated for a little while, it will pass shortly. Do you need me to stop while it passes?”

Dean shook his head slowly. “No. I’m fine.” He tried to smile in her direction, but wasn’t really sure he was facing the right way.

“Tell us if you need something to drink or to eat.”

Dean nodded and concentrated on not showing too much pain. when she pressed down on the particularly tender places.


	7. Final ruling

Sam had been following Gemma’s every move for almost an hour when she announced that she was done, for now, with all three joints.

“I will set you up with TENS for the next hour and a half, maybe two if you fell okay, after that we won’t do more today.”

Dean seemed like he’d been sleeping, during the massage. Sam knew that wasn’t quite true, from the frequent complaints of pain, but he had been relaxed enough to get a little rest. Now he looked from one to the other.

“What is a TENS?” He sounded more annoyed than nervous.

“It is a transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation.” Sam and Dean was still waiting for an explanation, because that definitely wasn’t it. Gemma found three small light gray bags, and put them on the bed next to Dean. “It will stimulate the nerves in the joints, and keep them from stiffening again. It will not hurt. The electrodes will be placed with adhesive pads.”

She packed one of the machines out, and started placing small square stickers on his knee.

“So, it’s like one of these electronic-ab-trainers we see on tv?” Dean let her work and Sam again paid close attention.

Gemma smiled. “Not far from it. I will start it on a low setting and you tell me if it is painful.”

Dean nodded, and Sam noticed a twitch next to his eye when the machine was turned on, but nothing else shoved.

“That’s so weird.” Dean was obviously more surprised by the strange feeling than in pain.

“You have four pads on your knee. I will place two on your elbow. I think you need to relax your wrist a bit more. If this hurt, you will tense up and it will countereffect the treatment.”

Dean nodded, clearly relived that his wrist was going to be left alone.

When Gemma had placed the other machine, and put the third away, she sat down at the kitchen table and gestured for Sam to come over.

Dean was almost asleep already. Those pills really did their job. Sam sat down opposite Gemma and looked at the stuff she had put on the table. There was a syringe with a needle, a small flask with clear fluid and some more pills.

“Do you have a laptop?”

“Yeah, just a sec.” Sam went to get the computer and opened it up on the way back, making sure Dean hadn’t forgot to log off something a girl this age shouldn’t see. She took it and pulled up an x-ray of a wrist from the internet.

She started lecturing Sam about when and how he should inject the next nerve block. After Gemma had given a detailed instruction and answering all the questions from Sam, he felt a bit better about the situation. He could do this. The only doubt he had, was if Dean would let him, but he couldn’t do anything about that now.

“Now, you practice.” Gemma unwrapped the syringe. Sam had no idea what she was talking about. He looked over at Dean, who was fast asleep.

“What?”

She handed Sam the syringe and pulled up her sleeve. “You have to practice, at least one time.”

Sam froze. He looked at the syringe in his hand, slightly shaking, and then at Gemma’s wrist laying on the table in front of him. Gemma was waiting for him to snap out of it. Eventually he looked up and met her eyes.

“But…”

“It won’t hurt that much, if that is wat you worry about. You won’t be injecting anything, but you do have to get a feel for what it’s like in there.”

“I don’t know about this, Gemma.”

She grabbed his hand with the syringe with her free hand. “I’ve seen my father do this with hunters before. You need to try this with me here. I must get back tonight, remember? We can’t practice on Dean now, can we?”

Sam shook his head. He relaxed a bit, and it seemed like Gemma noticed, so she let go and nodded against her wrist.

“Are you sure?”

She smiled. “I’m sure. Just do as I told you. Disinfect it first.”

Sam took a deep breath and picked up the cotton with the tweezer and dipped it in the rubbing alcohol. His hand was shaking as he put the needle closer. Then he stopped.

“Can’t I do this to my own wrist?”

“No. You can’t. You have to concentrate about how it feels when you are holding the needle, not how it feels going into your arm. Go ahead.”

Sam sighed. There was no way around this. He didn’t like it. What if he did it wrong? He could do it to Dean. He was helping Dean, but Gemma. Gemma was only helping. A sweet girl who should not be here. He regretted once more that he brought her into this. She was so bound on helping them, and they needed it, but what if he did it wrong? Was her father onboard with this? Was this part of the plan or had she decided on this herself? He didn’t like it at all, but there was still no way around this.

He put the shaking needle to her skin where she had shown her. She nodded, and he took a deep breath and pushed it in. He didn’t shake anymore. He barely touched the syringe in fear of accidently twitching it the wrong way.

“Great. Now, a quarter of an inch further.”

Sam pushed it in slowly. Gemma twitched just a little bit. Sam stopped.

“Sorry.”

“It’s all good. You are doing it right. Now this is where you inject the first half, it might feel like there is not enough room for it all, but just go slow and you will be able to inject it without pressing too hard.”

Sam nodded and made a mental note, to go extremely slow. No need to force anything.

“Now pull it about half the way out.” Sam followed her instructions, occasionally looking at the x-ray on the laptop. “If you turn it slightly to the left you feel that there is no room, that’s the bone. Pull back slowly so you can get past it.”

It was a strange feeling. He had expected that it would have scraped against the bone and felt rough or maybe even dry or scratchy, but it was smooth and kinda gave a little, like it was cowered by something soft. He clearly felt when it was possible to get past it, and he stopped and looked up at the girl who was paying close attention to the act.

“You know what to do. Approximately half an inch.”

Sam pushed it into the new space. Slowly. He stopped when he felt the difference density as she told him earlier.

“There?” She looked at him and he confirmed with a nod. “Okay, then you press in the last here and slowly withdraw the needle.”

He pulled it out and took a deep breath, wondering if he had even gotten any air while this was going on.

“I trust that you are ready, to administer the block when I’m not here.” She rubbed a cotton ball on the little dot of blood on her wrist. “Just remember that his wrist is fairly bigger than mine, so the measurements will be slightly bigger, but the sensation of it will be the same.”

Sam was sitting straight op and down on the chair looking at the way-too-collected girl packing up her stuff and laying out the supplies, so it was easy for him to figure out. He was still trying to wrap his head around what this day had pulled them through. When she was done she looked at him. “You seem pale. Are you feeling all right?”

He came back to reality fast. “Yeah, I’m fine.” He stood up and went over to check on Dean. He looked like he was starting to wake up, but he didn’t seem to be in pain. He turned to Gemma, who looked at him with a frown on her forehead.

“Okay.” She still looked at him, pensively, but then turned to find some more pills for Dean. “I would still like you to eat and drink something before we leave.”

Sam went to the little fridge. There wasn’t a lot of options, but he eventually found a selection that he wasn’t too embarrassed to present to a guest.

After they’d eaten Gemma went to Dean. “Dean are you awake?”

Dean moaned a bit but didn’t seem like he was ready to wake up.

“I’m going to turn of the TENS now and take it off. It’s been over two hours.”

Dean didn’t react until she started removing the adhesive pads on his knee.

“What?!” He was still confused from the long nap. He had clearly needed the sleep after last night.

Sam was at his brother's side in an instant. “Dean. Gemma is just removing the stickers.”

Dean was awake now. “Oh… okay.”

He put his head back on the pillow and let Gemma work. Sam was confused. He’d never seen Dean react that way to being woken. He had expected that he would have kicked Gemma before he realizing what was going on. He might even have shot her, if Sam had taken the gun from under his pillow as soon as they had gotten back. Either the painkillers were unlike anything they have ever used before or Dean was accepting help from this girl.

“You okay, Dean?”

Dean looked up at Sam. “I’m fine.” He jolted when Gemma took the last patch off his elbow but gathered himself quickly with a few deep breaths.

“You can take these now.” Gemma handed him the not-so-little pills and a glass of water. “The pain is starting to come back now, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, I guess.” He tried to hide the grimace on his face while sitting up a bit, to take the water. “Thanks Annie.”

Sam was so amazed by his brother’s behavior that he didn’t realize till a few moments after that he still insisted on calling her Annie, but Gemma was smiling and didn’t seem to mind.

“Sam is driving me back now, is there anything you need, before we leave?”

Dean looked at Sam and shook his head. He looked at Gemma with a smile. “No. Thank you I’m good.”

“We will pick up some more tablets for you, I’ve written down how often you can take them. Sam will be back well before you need them. Eat some, but be careful remember the nausea?”

Dean nodded and laid back. It looked like he felt it already.


	8. Thinking too much or too little

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "The-eye-thing" Sam are refereeing to are from my fic; Line Of Sight, also in this series. 
> 
> The stitches Dean remember Bobby giving him are described in; The First Name, the first fic in this series.

“Call me if you have any doubts. You did safe my number, right?”

Gemma pulled one of her duffle bags from the trunk while Sam took the other.

“Yeah, I have it. I’ll call.” Sam was sure he would have no reason to. They had used most of the two-hour drive to go over the treatment multiple times. The only thing that could get difficult, and probably would, was convincing Dean that he needed it, and Gemma couldn’t help with that. Not when she wasn’t in the room anyway.

He put the bag down next to the gate and turned to the petite redheaded girl in front of him. “Thank you.” He offered her his hand. He would have hugged most others, it felt wrong hugging such a young girl, he was not related to, while everyone at the school could see them but it was the authority she had shown him and Dean that sealed the deal. He wasn’t sure Gemma would like it.

Gemma looked at his hand, put down her bag and straightened her back. She gave him a firm handshake and looked him in the eyes. “Anything I can do to help.”

She held on for a few seconds and Sam started to feel like he should say something else. Then she chuckled and hugged him. Her arms were tight around his waist and her head only as high as his mid chest. Before he gathered himself enough to return the favor she let go and picked up her bags and disappeared trough the gate.

Sam stood there for a moment before he got back to the task of driving back to Dean with the painkillers. None of them have trusted him to have them on his own, to the stash Gemma had, they had taken with them. He wouldn't need a new dose before the middle of the night anyway. 

* * *

“So, you woke me up to give me pills that will make me sick? I don’t need them now.”

Sam sighed. It was in the middle of the night and Dean hated being woken up any time of the day, especially when it was not a life or death situation. “If you don’t take them now it will be the pain waking you up later.”

“ _You_ are a pain.”

Dean swallowed the pills and laid back down to sleep again. Sam knew that half the reason Dean was grumpy was because he was hungry. A tired Dean is not a good thing, but a tired _and_ hungry Dean, is a murder waiting to happen. However, Sam decided to let him sleep. The nausea caused by the pills should be gone tomorrow and he would be able to get some food down.

* * *

The smell of chicken wings woke up Dean. He felt a bit dizzy as he sat up, but the smell made is stomach turn into a thirty-man orchestra. Sam was at the table already eating. “Hey, save me something. Throw me a few.”

“If you can manage to walk it would be good for you.”

His knee wasn’t hurting that bad right now, but with the unstable joint and the serious painkillers, he wasn’t sure he would be able to get all the way to the table without help. He wasn’t going to tell Sam though. Sam was already too comfortable in this caretaker-role. He sat up, swung his feet to the floor and stretched his joints and rolled his neck. Oh, how good it felt to move. He’d been lying down on his back for way too long.

He pushed off the bed with his good hand and stood up. Instantly, his eyesight went away, and he lost sensation of up and down. He didn’t know if he was falling over, backwards or standing still, before his chest his Sam’s, and his brother’s arms were around him.

“Hey, hey. I’ve got you.”

As soon as Dean felt Sam had a secure grip on him, he felt Sam moving him towards the bed again.

“No. I’m okay.”

“Sit down a bit Dean.”

With Sam holding him he regained enough grounding to put some more weight on his feet.

“Just, stood up too fast. Give me a sec.”

Sam didn’t argue. Dean was glad that he just waited till Dean got his sight back and then let go. He didn’t stray far from his side though, while Dean limped to the table. The pain shooting through his knee with every step was not helping his dizziness, but a soon as he sat down it all went away fast.

He was surprised that he didn’t get nauseous while eating, but he didn’t. When he picked up the fifth wing in under two minutes, he could see Sam suppressing a smile.

“What?! I can’t remember the last time I ate.”

“Hey.” Sam held his hands in a surrendering gesture. “I’m just happy to see you’re better. You haven’t eaten since the pie yesterday.

Dean looked up. He suddenly remembered the pie, it felt like he had been sleeping for two days since then. “What time is it?”

“One PM. You’ve slept for almost sixteen hours. Except for when you took the pills at four this morning.”

Those painkillers were not to mess around with. He never slept more that six hours, and that was stretching it. He shook his head to himself and turned his attention back to the meat in front of him.

“You, done?”

Dean had been staring at the half-empty bucket for a while when Sam asked. He nodded. “Yeah.”

“Good.” Sam started packing the food away and putting the trach in a plastic bag. “Go back and lay down and we’ll do the massage.”

“What?” Dean remembered that the treatment would have to continue for at least a week, but he didn’t have to like it, and he didn’t have to let anyone call it a massage.

“You know that Gemma said we had to continue. Please don’t make this difficult.”

Sam sounded tired. He looked at his little brother slouched down, leaning against the countertop. Dean wondered if Sam had even slept last night. He couldn’t have sat up all night studying for this. Sam was too experienced to get freaked out by this.

“Something wrong?”

Sam turned his back to Dean and put the last box in the mini fridge. “No.”

Dean was sure something was eating at Sam, but he couldn’t figure it out. “I just need the bathroom for a sec.”

He made it out there on his own, but with Sam’s eyes glued to him all the way. It was the same when he got back. Sam was on high alert, ready to catch him if he’d fall.

He sat on the bed putting both legs up. Glad to get his knee a bit elevated and his ankle too. It was only sprained, but still, walking on it was not comfortable.

Sam came over with a bunch of stuff and laid it all out on the bed-side table. Dean saw his brother hesitate for just a split-second, then he placed the syringe on the table too. Dean felt his blood leaving his face and his breathing speeding up. He was working him self up to a fight, he was going to discuss the hell out of this, if there was any way he could get out of Sam stirring the insides of his wrist with a needle, he would find it.

He looked at Sam, mouth already open to start demeaning everything that girl had told him, but something made him stop.

Sam was just sitting there. He had a pair of gloves in his hands, but he just held them. He looked at Dean, not really, maybe he just had his head that way when he decided to kook at nothing. Sam wasn’t tired, he was exhausted. He was waiting for Dean to start. Dean got it. Sam was always the one in the line of fire when Dean decided that he didn’t need or want help. With injuries and with the whole hell-situation. He had to be so tired of helping him.

Dean took a breath. He hated this and couldn’t believe he was going to do it.

“Sammy?”

Sam looked surprised but the non-threatening tone. “Yeah?”

“I know, I’m not an easy patient, but you know this is an…” Dean wasn’t sure how to verbalize his thing with needles. “issue. I can’t just…”

“I know, Dean. I know you are not okay with it, but can you please just this once not make it about something else?”

Dean didn’t follow, and Sam obviously picked up on that.

“It’s always about something else; either you don’t need it and I’m overreacting, or you don’t trust the help we’ve gotten, or you have a better idea what to do. It’s never because you’re scared. I’m tired of fighting you, Dean.”

Dean was not sure this was only about the medical stuff anymore, but right now that was what he had to deal with. He was worried that Sam would either tie him up and gag him, or worse, walk out the door, if Dean didn’t stray from his normal defenses right now.

“What do you want? ...” He tried his best to be calm and sound cooperative. “I don’t think I can just lie still.”

Sam was definitely surprised now. For a moment Dean wondered if Sam considered testing if he was possessed, but then he snapped out of it.

“It’s fine. Just be honest about why, please.”

Dean contemplated making some kind of joke about, being girly some psychology-professor, but decided against it, at least for now.

“Okay, Sammy. I’ll try, if you think it’ll make it easier.”

Sam nodded and put on the gloves. Dean hated it already.

“I’ll start with the nerve-block and then you can take the next dose of painkillers.” Sam put the alcohol-drenched cotton against the skin, and Dean flinched from the cold.

Dean nodded at Sam to continue, he concentrated on holding his breathing normal. When Sam picked up the syringe and poked the needle into the little flask, that task got way more difficult. Why the hell did he had to feel like this? It was stupid, the needle wasn’t even that big, but the thought of something, anything, moving around under his skin made him sick to his stomach.

Sam put the flask down and moved the lamp on the table a bit to get slightly more light. He moved closer and Dean didn’t realize that the arm moved away, before it was resting on his own chest.

“Sorry. I don’t know…”

“It’s okay Dean.” Sam leaned back a bit and gave Dean some space. “How do you feel?”

Sam was pushing it. The strained breaths were starting to come from anger and not fear, and his jaw were getting tensed.

“Well, I’m getting close to annoyed.”

“Dean.”

Sam was smiling. What the hell?

“Dean, we don’t need to have any chick-flick-moments but tell me how you feel, physically, so I can do something if it gets too much.”

Dean loosened up, he could do that. It made it better that Sam joked a bit, Sam was always so serious. Dean was sure half of his resentment in these situations came from the seriousness, it would be so much easier to joke about it, but Sam usually didn’t take to that, often with good reason, Dean had to give him that.

“I…” Dean looked at the ceiling and tried to sense what was going on. “I think I might throw up.”

“That we can handle. We’ve done that before.” Sam pulled the trach can over and put it next to the bed. “What else?”

“Nothing.” When he thought about it, it was only that. Nothing else.

“So, you don’t think you will pull away again?”

“I don’t know, Sam. I don’t know why I did that. Guess I wasn’t ready.”

Sam looked like he was thinking. In a sec he would say something to reveal that he was thinking too much.

“Just spill it, Sam.”

Sam looked at Dean, but still with that tension around his eyes. Then he loosened up.

“One question…”

Dean knew it. He freakin knew it.

“One _shrink_ -question, right?”

Sam sighed and then nodded. “I guess.”

“Okay, Sam. Let’s get this over with.”

Sam swallowed once and put the syringe on the table. “I can see you are scared, don’t deny it, I know. But I don’t know why. It can’t be the pain, nothing can really go wrong, nothing we can’t handle anyway, so what is it?”

Dean shook his head. He never thought about it. Well when Gemma was here, he was afraid of hurting her, but not Sam. Both Sam, Bobby and his farther, had patched him up multiple times. He’d thrown up before, and they had all accepted that he just did that with stitches. So, why not now? If Sam were to give him stitches now, he would be hunched over the trash can puking and none of them would address it at all.

“Dean?”

“I don’t know Sam. Can we just do this? Tie me down if I fight you.” He was giving up on this emotions-stuff, it wasn’t working. Anger worked.

Sam took another deep breath. “Are y… Are you scared of freaking out? Like with the eye-thing?”

Dean was flabbergasted but didn’t know why. He should have known that Sam would figure it out, even before he did himself.

“That’s it, isn’t it?”

Dean looked at Sam. “Yeah, maybe.”

He couldn’t believe he just admitted that to Sam, he wasn’t even sure he was ready to admit it to himself.

“Okay, moment over.” Sam smiled and picked up the syringe. “You are not going to do that. The eye-injections were something else, and we don’t have to talk about that now. This is more like getting stitches. Yesterday it was a fifteen-year-old girl doing it and you were concerned about her safety. It’s just me now, I can take a hit if you react on instinct. You with me?”

Dean took a second to let it all sink in. This was no big deal. He’d gotten through worse. The twenty-eight stitches Bobby decorated his back with wasn’t fun, he’d passed out, but he hadn’t freaked. He looked at Sam holding the syringe. “I’m with you.”

“Do you want to sit, so you are ready with the bucket?”

That might be a good idea. Dean nodded and started to sit. Sam picked up the trash can and helped Dean get situated, leaning against the head-board and with the bucket between his legs.

“The rules are; Don’t move your arm or hand. If you need a break you tell me, do _not_ move. Now, if you are moving because you are puking I’ll stop till you can keep still again. Ready?”

Dean didn’t feel good, the chicken wings were doing cartwheels in his stomach, but it was better now. It was like all the other times. It didn’t matter how deep the needle would go, he know what he could do and couldn’t, and he knew that if he kept to that, Sam would just get it done, without making a fuss.

“Yeah. I’m ready.”

Sam moved Dean’s hand on top of a box he’d placed on the bed to get it supported now Dean was sitting. Dean flinched from the cold when Sam cleaned the wrist again, but none of them said anything. As the needle went in Dean suppressed a gag but wrapped his free arm tighter around the bucket. It didn’t hurt as much as yesterday, but the pain must have covered up the sensation of the moving needle, because he felt it now. Every instinct in him told him to move his wrist, not pull it away, but to bend it, make a fist or stretch his fingers. His mind told him that if he did, the tight sensation would go away, but he knew that was not true, so he kept still, waiting for it to get worse.

The pain came slowly; burning, getting bigger. There wasn’t room. He started breathing faster. It was a burning ball of fire growing inside his wrist. He might have been able to handle the pain if he didn’t keep picturing his wrist splitting from the inside. There wasn’t room for it.

“Dean, your bicep is twitching.”

Sam’s voice didn’t reveal any concern, just an information. Dean noticed it now, his arm was twitching but his breathing took precedence over any muscle acting up. He was looking at the bottom of the trash can, and he was controlling his breathing, he was keeping it under control, but it took all the energy he could conjure up. The pressure inside the wrist was still there. He took two deep breaths before he spoke.

“Break.”

“I’ve already stopped. You don’t need more here, I’ll wait till you’re ready before I move it.”

Dean gagged, from the thought abut moving it, but gathered himself. After half a minute or so the pain disappeared, and the tight feeling wasn’t so prominent. Dean looked up at Sam and nodded. Sam nodded back and turned his full attention to the needle in the wrist again.

The feeling of the needle going out was not bad, until it got to the bone. Once again, he was sure it was scraping against the bone. The rasping feeling might have been in his head, but now it was moving through his entire body. Yesterday, he had to protect his image of being the tough guy, that was not the issue now and Dean emptied his stomach into the bucket. He gasped for air between bursts, it was brutal, and tears were forming in his eyes from the workout and possible lack of oxygen.

“Taking a break. Dean. I’ll wait.”

He felt Sam’s hand on his lover arm, steadying it, and he tried to help keep still, but it was difficult, while puking so violently that his knees, the hurt one too, bend and wrapped around the trash can.

When the lack of food in his stomach made the bursts become coughs and gags, Dean started to breathe easier. He sat for a few seconds with his head over the bucked and gathered himself. Then he wiped the sweat from his face with his t-shirt, getting the tears in the prosses too.

“Please tell me you are done with that part.”

He looked at Sam, who was patiently waiting for him to give the go-ahead to start again. Sam looked down at the wrist, Dean felt the needle move and almost gagged again, but there was no scraping this time.

“Yeah, I’m past the bone.” Sam looked almost as relieved as Dean felt.

“Okay. Get the last done then.”

Dean smiled at Sam before rested his forehead on the arm holding the bucket. He didn’t think he would be sick again, but he was exhausted, and he still didn’t want to look at what was going on with his wrist.

The needle moved in again and when it stopped Dean was ready for the pain, teeth grinding together and the other hand in a tight fist. The burning was just as bad as before, but the pressure was more on the outside, so it didn’t give him the same feeling as if his wrist was breaking from the inside. The pain almost masked the sensation of the needle being pulled out.

When the pain diminished, Dean sat up again and relaxed. His wrist was numb. It was amazing, not worth it at all, but still amazing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was getting to a point were I was not feeling this story anymore, and thought that there was no way this could get anymore good chapters. Then something happened (maybe two days of binge-watching old episodes) and I wrote this chapter. I feel good about this one, and have regained my motivation to finish it.


	9. Alias

Dean had all but slept through the physiotherapy. His eyes had been closed the entire time, breathing slow. Sam, for a moment thought his brother was snoring, but then he had pressed a tender spot on his knee and another profanity had made its way over Dean’s lips. Sam let the complaints from Dean slide, he wasn’t even sure he remembered the talk they’d had. The painkillers were doing their job and combined with the ordeal Dean just went through it had made him exhausted.

Sam got through half an hour of massage on each joint and even got the machines on him, without much fuss. Gemma had shown Sam how to attach the third to the wrist and told him that as soon as Dean could manage it without tensing up he should use that too. Sam turned on the lowest setting on the wrist and a few higher on the knee and elbow. Dean moaned as if someone was trying to wake him but didn’t manage. Sam looked at his brother while he shifted in bed and when Dean settled down he confirmed that all joints was relaxed.

Sam was tired. He tried to do the math. When did he last sleep? He didn’t sleep last night. He hadn’t been able to. The thoughts about how Dean would react had made him go over every scenario in his mind, trying to plan every possible conversation. After trying to sleep for three hours, he’d ended up sitting in his bed, looking over Gemma’s notes all night. He hadn’t slept since the morning after the hunt. It was only one night he hadn’t slept, but it felt like a week.

He looked at Dean and for a second, he wondered if it was a good idea to give him the pills before the injection, if they had to do it all over again tomorrow. He quickly discarded of that thought though. Might not be a good idea to induce nausea and near unconsciousness before Dean had to sit up and throw up in a bucket again, only to give him more pills after, because they too would end up in the bucket. Gemma must have figured that one thing at the time was best and he agreed. But he really whished he could take the discomfort away from Dean right now. Sam was often doubting himself as a hunter and as a brother. He had looked up to Dean his whole life, trying to be like him, and failing every time, but this was one thing he knew he would be able to handle better than Dean, and it pained him that he couldn’t help. Not really. Just being there for each other, holding hands and listening, wasn’t really the Winchester-way.

His head was spinning. He needed sleep, so he set an alarm for an hour and laid back on the bed, not bothering to climb under the covers or even taking of his shoes.

* * *

“Sam!”

Sam woke up from something shaking him violently.

“Sam. Wake up.”

“Dean?”

Sam opened his eyes and looked up at his brother standing over him.

“No. It’s freakin Santa Claus. Of course, it’s me. Wake up your phone is ringing.”

Sam felt like he had only slept for ten minutes. He sat up watching Dean limping back to the bed. He didn’t have the machines on anymore. Did he take them off? Had they been hurting him?

The persistent ringing of the phone pulled him from thought. He picked it up to turn off the alarm but realized that it was a call. Gemma. He fumbled with the phone half dazed from sleep not to accidentally hang up. Then it stopped.

He sat there for a second looking at the phone in his hand. Eight PM. The alarm set for four thirty had been turned off.

“So, who is calling?”

Sam turned to Dean. “Ehm. Gemma.”

“You should probably call her back then. And apologize for sleeping through three of her calls.”

Dean was sitting in bed. He looked good for a change. Well rested. Had he showered?

Sam was still not quite catching up. “You look better.”

“Feel like it. Thanks. You look like crap.”

“Well yeah taking care of your ass is exhausting.”

The brothers shared a smile.

“What happened Dean. You turned off my alarm?”

Dean chuckled. “Yeah you slept through two rounds of it ringing, so I figured it was time for me to take off these contraptions.” Dean looked at the pile of wires on the floor. “I turned off your damn noise-maker and tried to sleep some more. When the first call woke me up and you slept through that too I decided that since I was okay walking I’d take a shower.”

Sam whished that Dean would have waited with the shower till he was awake, but he did look better.

“You should probably call her back now, and may I suggest that you take a shower after?” Dean made a face indicating that he could smell Sam form there.

“Yeah, sure.”

Sam sat up, swung his legs of the bed and called Gemma back.

* * *

Dean sat still listening. He couldn’t hear what Gemma was saying, but he noticed every expression on Sam’s face. So far, he reckoned it had only been friendly greetings, but he was on edge. Why would she call? Then the conversation turned at it clearly became about him.

“About sixteen hours.”

…

“No, everything went as planned.”

…

“I don’t know. He may not, he’s definitely better.”

Dean wanted to leave the room. Sam shouldn’t be talking to her, to anyone about him. He sent Sam a look, and his brother immediately picket up on it.

“Hold on Gemma, I’ll put you on speaker. Then you can ask him yourself.”

Sam held out the phone between them.

“Dean?”

“Hi Annie.”

Sam shook his head in silence, but again Gemma didn’t say anything.

“How are you feeling?”

“Much better, thanks.”

“If you move your wrist right now, is it better or worse than your elbow was yesterday?”

Dean still couldn’t shake the thought that this was a kid asking to his health and pain. He moved his wrist and tried to remember how it felt when Sam and Gemma had moved his elbow the day before. There was really no doubt. His wrist was only sore and the sharp pain when he moved it was manageable.

“It’s better. Definitely.”

He noticed Sam looking at him. Sizing him up. Sam could always tell when he was lying, so now he just had to trust that his little brother could tell when he was telling the truth also. It seemed like he did.

“That’s good. As for the next few days use the TENS as often as you can. At least twice a day. And get Sam to continue the physiotherapy for a week.”

Dean sighed but nodded at Sam when he felt his brother’s piercing eyes on him.

“If you can relax enough by only taking the tablets, Sam will not need to administer a nerve-block.”

Sam actually looked hopeful. Dean didn’t know why he was surprised to see that. He hadn’t thought that Sam wanted to do this, but the look made him realize how much Sam hated this.

“I’m sure that won’t be necessary, I feel good.”

“I’m glad to hear it. I have one thing to ask. I’ve already asked Sam, when he drove me back, but he thought it would be best that you made the decision yourself too.”

“Ehm. Sure. What do you need?”

Dean would give her almost anything. They had had a lot of people helping them over the years, not many getting much in return. People putting their own life on hold and even jeopardizing it, for them. Dean didn’t think of it often. It was their choice. He and Sam didn’t make it a habit of forcing people into this. This was different though. She did agree to come, but she was still a kid, and Dean wondered if she even really knew what hunters did.

“I missed a day of school yesterday. However, I can make up for it by writhing a paper on the case. Your case.”

“Okay?”

“I just need your permission to put in details like age and physical condition. I will not be using your real name.”

“Sure, you do that and just call if there’s anything you need to know. Unless you already have gotten it all from Sam.”

Sam did that thing where he looked sure of himself and at the same time small enough to join the soldier in Baby’s ashtray.

“Thank you, Dean. Now, Sam have you found an alias that are not wanted for anything, that I can use?”

Dean almost laughed out loud. It was next to impossible to do that. It wasn’t like she could write agent or marshal in her paper.

“Yeah, I’ve got one that I’ve never used for anything, probably never will. Sam Wesson.”

“I’m not sure I can find one. Can’t you just make one up?”

Dean could probably find a name that he never used, but it was getting harder to come up with good ones.

“That’s okay. I think I got one. Thank you.”

“Thank you, Gemma.”

“Yeah, thanks Annie.”

* * *

The next day Dean got through the physiotherapy only on the pills. His elbow and knee were much better, so was his wrist even though the massage wasn’t fun, but he managed to relax enough so Sam was satisfied. After he’d been on the TENS for an hour they decided that that motel had to be left behind. Dean was able to help pack the car without showing too much pain, so Sam didn’t offer up any argument when Dean decided that he was driving, they were only going two towns over anyway. Sam wasn’t sure Dean was ready to hunt just yet, but Dean was sure, and he had agreed to the physiotherapy as long as he was allowed to live his live, as he’d said.

Sam did last sweep of the room before packing up his laptop and leaving.

“Hey, Dean get in here. There’s a mail from Gemma.”

Dean came in from the parking lot. “Well, if it’s the paper. It’s probably more up your alley, Dr. Wesson.”

Sam waited till Dean was behind him to pull up the paper. The silence was deafening when they read the title.

 

 **WHEN BATMAN THINKS HE CAN FLY**  
_Severe tenosynovitis – Treatment and use of pain-inhibitors in the field._

 

Dean turned and left in silence, but Sam felt the green eyes boring into his back from outside the room. That short drive, just two towns over, would feel like a drive to Mexico. Maybe he shouldn’t have told, but he couldn’t help but smile as he packed up and left to join his brother in the impala.


End file.
